In Baltimore CountyTwo dogs that bit Edgemere baby are...

City/County Digest

TOWSON -- Two dogs that bit a baby were euthanized late Tuesday, county Health Department officials said.

Three-month-old Brandon Knowles -- whose family lived in the 7300 block of North Dokata Avenue in Edgemere -- died between 11: 35 p.m. Friday and 2: 25 a.m. Saturday from bites to his upper body, according to police.

The family owned a chow and two dachshunds and asked Animal Control officials to euthanize the chow and the smaller dachshund, both of which are believed to have bitten the child, said Karen Stott, a health department spokeswoman.

Garrison Forest students plan discussion of cancer

OWINGS MILLS -- Garrison Forest School students will discuss cancer -- the warning signs, physical and emotional effects and methods of treatment and prevention -- at a cancer awareness event today.

Doug Ulman, 21, of Columbia, who survived skin cancer and recently completed a run in the Himalayan mountains, will speak.

Also invited are cancer patients and cancer survivors, as well as oncologists. Students at Garrison Forest organized the event, which will begin at 8 a.m. in the Garland Theater, 300 Garrison Forest Road.

Businessmen to be honored by Chamber of Commerce

HUNT VALLEY -- The Baltimore County Chamber of Commerce is scheduled to present its annual "Hall of Fame" awards today to Stephen A. Burch, senior vice president of Comcast Cable Communications' Mid-Atlantic Division, and to former state Sen. Francis X. Kelly, of Kelly & Associates Insurance Group.

The inductees will join many business leaders honored for their business and philanthropic efforts in Baltimore County. The awards will be given at a ceremony at the Marriott in Hunt Valley.

In Baltimore City

Organ-sharing group told to not skip Baltimore

The federal government has told the United Network for Organ Sharing, a national group that directs donated organs to hospitals, that it has no authority to steer kidneys away from two transplant centers in Baltimore.

"We question absolutely what authority UNOS has," Dr. D.W. Chen, transplant director at the Department of Health and Human Services, said yesterday. The agency has asked UNOS to reconsider its plans to punish Maryland for obtaining more organs from other states than it donated.

The issue could become moot with a regulation, due to take effect Nov. 19, that would give the federal government veto power over policies UNOS wants to impose. The University of Maryland Medical Center and Johns Hopkins Hospital do organ transplants.

Experts and local leaders in the fields of computers, public safety, utilities, health care and financial services will participate in the forum. Information: 410-396-2000.

Grant awarded to improve public housing projects

The Housing of Authority of Baltimore City will receive a $32.9 million federal grant for physical improvements to several public housing complexes managed by the agency, U.S. Sens. Barbara A. Mikulski and Paul S. Sarbanes announced yesterday.

The money will pay for several projects, including windows at Poe Homes, upgrading the electrical system at Somerset Homes, and remodeling 167 units at Cherry Hill Homes.

The grant was awarded under the Comprehensive Grant Program, which allows housing authorities the latitude to use federal funds for physical and management improvements and for operations.